1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus, an image reading method, and an image reading program for reading image data and performing character recognition on a portion of the image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image reading apparatus that reads image data and generates document data therefrom is conventionally used. Also, an image reading apparatus that reads image data and performs character recognition thereon is becoming increasingly popular. However, image reading may not necessarily be performed in the proper order and direction. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 9-83691 discloses an image processing technique implemented in the case of alternatingly inputting odd numbered pages and even numbered pages of a book, the technique enabling images to be read in the proper direction and output in proper order based on the alignment direction of characters and preventing the pages from being read in reverse order.
However, the above-disclosed technique is implemented under the premise that the pages are arranged in proper order when they are read. Specifically, the above-disclosed technique merely relates to switching the direction in which pairs of successive pages are read according to whether characters are aligned vertically or horizontally. In other words, the disclosed technique does not relate to rearranging the direction of images that are read in different directions or rearranging the order of images that are not read in order. Thus, pages have to be arranged in proper order before image data of the pages are read according to the disclosed technique. However, in the case of processing image data of dual-side printed document pages, for example, it may be more convenient to read odd numbered pages first before reading the even-numbered pages. In the case of arranging image data of such document pages in order, the front and back side of each page may have to be read which may be quite burdensome. Accordingly, a technique is in demand for rearranging read image data in proper order and recombining the image data.